On Your Mark

As kids, we made everything into a game to keep ourselves entertained. When you are young, full of energy, and with little responsibility, you have to find your entertainment where ever you can. Whether it’s running to the end of the street and seeing who gets there first or climbing a tree to see who can go the highest, most if not all of these games assist in the development of specific skills we need to survive – competitiveness, team work, endurance, learning how to win or lose well, and learning how to follow and break rules.

Competitiveness is the one that is often problematic when you are young, and even as you get older. You find that in order to make things “fair,” people will bend the rules for those who tend to fall behind. It’s tricky territory that you fall into when you try to make things fair. Sure, you don’t want the guy who always wins to be the only one who gets to play, but how much will things suffer if you let a lesser person play? There is a fine line between giving the underdog a chance and pushing aside qualified contenders simply to look like the good guy.

I’ve seen this scenario play out many times in my life. I’ve been a winner and I’ve been a loser. I’ve seen underqualified people given more chances than qualified people for many reasons. I’ve read articles about giving minorities and women a chance and as a woman, I can honestly say that I have never felt or been made to feel like I couldn’t do something just because I was a woman. I think, generally, I don’t perceive myself as lesser than so I would never play on my gender as a “weakness” or something to pity – it’s just not my style.

I know what I am capable of, and I know what I will need to work hard to do. I will always work hard to be ready for the next competition, because there will always be a next competition, and if there is anything this world needs less of it is slackers.